Davidson has consistently denied Reeves' claims that he worked on the design package while still employed by Team New Zealand, and that it included NZL60's lines. http://www.nzherald.co.nz

By Ivor Wilkins

Designers Laurie Davidson, who worked for Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2000, OneWorld Challenge has agreed to allow Sean Reeves to testify at the special hearing of the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel being convened in Auckland this weekend, despite a restraining order from the US courts.

http://www.americascup.yahoo.com/

LAURIE DAVIDSON
* The former lead designer of the Team New Zealand America's Cup yachts, Laurie Davidson, has denied allegations that he passed on the team's design secrets to his current employer, the Seattle-based OneWorld Challenge. Mr Davidson said he did not steal designs from other boats and had made no use of design documents that Auckland lawyer Sean Reeves alleges came from the 2000 campaign champions. Mr Davidson was one of five former Team New Zealand design experts who Mr Reeves alleges were involved in passing on secret information to the 2003 American challenger. Wayne Thompson, NZ New Zealand Herald

* Peter Montgomery interviewed Laurie Davidson. Some excerpts:

PM: Laurie Davidson, what's your response to Sean Reeves' allegations?
LD: Sean Reeves allegations are quite untrue. The work that I sold to OWC was all my own work done after I left TNZ. In fact I have two contracts. The contract covering this work is dated 29 May, so the work didn't start until the beginning of June. It was delivered to OWC on the 15th of August. All America's Cup boats these days are within a small group and they all look much the same, particularly the latest ones which incorporate a feature that I designed for TNZ in the last America's Cup which I call the Davidson bow. It's a kind of a knuckle bow. You'll see it in the 2003 boats which have come down here that have been produced by Alinghi, by the Swedish syndicate and also the new Dennis Conner boat which is currently sailing in California has the same kind of bow. So, to an amateur like Sean Reeves, and he has no technical knowledge at all, it could look like NZL-60 or NZL-57 but they're not TNZ boats at all. They're Laurie Davidson 2003 boats and they're better than the TNZ boats.

PM: So do you categorically, absolutely deny that you sold TNZ secrets?
LD: Absolutely, categorically deny it, yes.

PM: Now, he also says that Laurie Davisdson brought to One World dozens of colour photographs of tank towing tests and models of the Wolfson Institute in Britain. He also says Laurie Davidson had in his possession at OWC copies of the measurement certificates for NZL-57 and 60.

LD: Yeah, those things have a slight element of truth about them. I
discovered after I had become part of the OW team I had in my possession a photograph album of some TNZ boats being tested at the Wolfson Institute. This photograph album belonged to TNZ. I decided to take it back to TNZ. On the way to TNZ I went into our OW office, put the photographs down on the table where they might have been for perhaps 20 minutes. Reeves came along, flicked through them and looked at them. I don't know if other people looked at them or not. But I told him what they were . I said I'm just on my way taking them back to TNZ. I picked them up and took them back and gave them to TNZ. So that's the story of that particular instance.

PM: Also the measurement certificate?
LD: The unveiling certificates - NZL-57 and NZL-60 - that's true but they
were given to me after August 1st 2000 by Sean Reeves himself. And anyhow, I share the copyright in those boats with TNZ. There's very little design information contained on those certificates. I just put them away in a folder and forgot I even had them until this thing came up.

* Later, RadioNZ host, Larry Williams asked Peter Montgomery: Who does actually own the designs and data? He (Davidson) designed it, doesn't he own it?

PM: He was not the absolute complete designer. Remember that TNZ had a design team headed by Tom Schnackenberg and there were other very good people - Clay Oliver, Mike Drummond. Of course Sean Reeves is also talking about struts, rudders, tabs and bulbs and a lot of aerodynamics which does not include Lauries'. There is no doubt that Laurie Davidson came up with the idea of the knuckle bow. He says he shares some of the copyright. I know that people now who sign; it is all TNZ's property and there is no sharing of the copyright. So that is a slightly grey area that I can't answer except to say that it would be quite wrong to imply that the designs were completely Laurie's.: http://www.2003ac.com/

THE NEXT STEP
* The America's Cup arbitration panel will rule on any penalty for the
admitted violations some time after Easter. The timetable of the case in
the Seattle courts between Reeves and OneWorld could take much longer. The next step in OneWorld's defence will be a supportive sworn statement from Bill Trenkle, Team Dennis Conner's longstanding perations manager. - Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, UK -

* America's Cup challenger OneWorld could be disqualified amid a row over design secrets that has rocked the world of sailing. The case could take months to settle in the U.S. courts. But an America's Cup arbitration panel meets next month and could impose penalties ranging from fines or even disqualification against teams or individuals. - CNN.Com/Inside Sailing -

SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1007 - February 14, 2002

THE AC MESS
United States America's Cup syndicate OneWorld has increased the pressure on a former worker to settle out of court his claims the syndicate obtained Team New Zealand's yachting design secrets illegally. Chief executive Gary Wright said OneWorld now had three affidavits from leading cup figures saying the worker, Auckland lawyer Sean Reeves, approached them with OneWorld secrets.

Accordingly, they have referred any information they think might be queried as a potential transfer of technology from another syndicate, specifically barred by cup rules, to the America's Cup Arbitration Panel for a ruling. Panel head Sir David Tompkins, a retired High Court judge, said a decision was likely in three to four weeks. - New Zealand Herald, Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

* The panel's ruling will be binding and an extreme punishment would be
the expulsion of OneWorld from the cup. However, if any breaches are found, OneWorld expects them to be minor. That is more likely to result in a fine - and past fines have been very small for syndicates with budgets
approaching $US100 million ($NZ242 million). - Helen Tunnah, New Zealand Press Association

* Peter Montgomery interviewed Bill Trenkle from Team Dennis Conner on Radio NZ (newstalkzb). Here are some excerpts:

Montgomery: You have made a signed affidavit and allegation that Sean
Reeves is trying to sell secrets to you as well?

Trenkle: Back in the fall when One World was trying to find out if anyone
else had been approached by Mr Reeves we contacted them and let them know that we has also been approached. They asked if it does go to court in Seattle would you be willing to sign a declaration stating it the facts.
We, of course, agreed and just the other day we were contacted by the
attorneys to make the declarations.

PM: What is the guts of your declaration? I understand you met Reeves after he left OW??

BT: Yeah, he was in San Diego which was not unusual because we did see him in San Diego before. We just got together for a casual coffee and he made similar type of approaches as you heard about with Chris Dickson and David Barnes stories. To tell you the truth, I thought it was all a joke, or not necessarily a joke, but I thought it was like a scam to try to get us to buy this information and find us in violation of the Protocol; being that he's a rules advisor and obviously very well versed in all the
technicalities of the Protocol. So I thought it was laughable that he would
be offering this kind of information.

PM: And I understand quite a lot of it was TNZ such as the millennium rig.

BT: You know, there wasn't a lot of information. It wasn't a long
conversation with a lot of detail. It was over quite quickly because like I
said, I really didn't take it too seriously and was not interested, and so
it didn't go very far.

CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Once again, Cheryl has posted Montgomery's interview in the forum section of the 2003AC website www.2003ac.com. Also, I understand that you can hear the interview audio files on the website for Newstalkzb, http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/index.asp. Cheryl has posted those instructions in "Spy Network Sightings" forum section.